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News & Press

Virginia Film Festival Announces Screening of New Documentary Virginia 12th

By Chandler Ferrebee on October 17, 2018

Documentary from NowThis Tells Story of Former Television News Reporter Chris Hurst’s Career Transition from Journalism to State Politics Following Traumatic and High-Profile Personal Loss

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – October 17, 2018 – The Virginia Film Festival announced today that it will screen the new documentary Virginia 12th as part of the upcoming 31st annual VAFF.

The Virginia Film Festival is a program of the University of Virginia and the Office of the Provost and Vice Provost for the Arts.

Virginia 12th, produced by NowThis, is the story of Chris Hurst, who became the youngest local news anchor in America at the age of 22 when he manned the news desk at Roanoke, Virginia’s WDBJ-7. Hurst was suddenly and tragically thrust into the limelight in 2015 when his fiancée and fellow reporter Alison Parker and their colleague, Adam Ward, were murdered during a live broadcast of the morning news.

The film follows Hurst after he quits journalism and enters the world of politics by running for state delegate in Virginia’s deeply-divided 12th House District. Director Tim Johnson takes audiences along for an exciting and inspirational ride that leads all the way to Election Day 2017, as Hurst rides a wave of support, much of it from young people, to unseat a 31-year-old NRA-backed career politician in one of the greatest political upsets in recent political history.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion in which Hurst will be joined by the film’s director, Salem, Virginia native Tim Johnson; Athan Stephanopoulous, president of NowThis; and Leslie Cockburn, the Democratic candidate to represent Virginia’s 5th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, and an award-winning investigative journalist whose work has been seen on CBS, NBC, PBS Frontline, 60 Minutes, and more.

For complete information regarding the Virginia Film Festival, visitvirginiafilmfestival.org. Tickets are on sale at virginiafilmfestival.org; in-person at the UVA Arts Box Office in the lobby of the UVA Drama Building, open M-F from noon to 5:00 PM; and by phone at 434-924-3376. Beginning October 24, Festival tickets will also be available at the Downtown Box Office in the lobby of Violet Crown on the Downtown Mall.

The 2018 Virginia Film Festival is presented by The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation (Richard M. Adler and Joseph Erdman, Trustees). The 2018 Virginia Film Festival is generously supported by the following Premiere Sponsors: The AV Company, Bank of America, CFA Institute, Community Idea Stations, Harvest Moon Catering, James Madison’s Montpelier, Violet Crown, and the Virginia Film Office.